Yes, teacher! Those were the two words I spoke more than any others when I was in mission school. They were like magic." What does Ned mean when he says that the words "Yes, teacher" are "like magic"?

Explanation:

By using a figurative language called Metaphor, Ned was likely comparing the words,  "Yes, teacher"  to the remarkable effectiveness of using those words to have a good relationship with his teachers while in Mission school.

Hence, Ned was likening how effective or convincing magic actually is with the words "Yes, teacher".

now, of course, the quality and the seasonability of these winter dreams varied, but the stuff of them remained.   they persuaded dexter several years later to pass up a business course at the state university—his father, prospering now, would have paid his way—for the precarious advantage of attending an older and more famous university in the east, where he was bothered by his scanty funds. but do not get the impression, because his winter dreams happened to be concerned at first with musings on the rich, that there was anything merely snobbish in the boy. he wanted not association with glittering things and glittering people—he wanted the glittering things themselves. often he reached out for the best without knowing why he wanted it—and sometimes he ran up against the mysterious denials and prohibitions in which life indulges.

there you go thats what we are missing